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Apr 19, 2026 This week’s theme Words with surprising etymological journeys This week’s words pummel balladmonger paregoric jocund furbelow How popular are they? Relative usage over time AWADmail archives Index Next week’s theme Words found in poetry Wordsmith Games 🧩 Jigsaw Riddle Space Shuttle art 🌍 Langitude Trace bungalow home AWADmail Issue 1242 A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and Language From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) Subject: Interesting stories from the Net From Divvy to Dinlo: Index of Insults Aims to Record Britain’s Diverse Dialects The Guardian Permalink Scientists Found Human Speech-Like Patterns in Sperm Whale Clicks ScienceAlert Permalink When an Author Says She Had To Decline a $175,000 Prize, What Does It Say About the Publishing World? The Guardian Permalink From: Joachim van Dijk (joachim.van.dijk gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pummel Pummel reminded me of the German word pummelig, meaning chubby, often used to describe overweight children. Joachim van Dijk, Wiesbaden, Germany From: Pascal Pagnoux (pascal.pagnoux gmail.com) Subject: balladmonger In French, there are two homonyms: balade, with one l, which means a stroll, and ballade, with two ls, which is a genre of songs. The first apparently comes from the second. We don’t seem to know why one l dropped, but the notion of strolling may come from the medieval troubadours, who were always moving while singing their ballads. The dance notion contained in the Latin ballare, at the root of both, remains in Spanish, where to dance is bailar. Pascal Pagnoux, Saint-Gaudens, France From: Doug Gagne (gahdnah gmail.com) Subject: Paregoric As the oldest of four children, I remember my mother swabbing a bit of paregoric onto my siblings’ gums when they were teething, and likely mine as well, back in the early 1960s. Doug Gagne, Hollis, New Hampshire Email of the Week -- Brought to you by ONEUPMANSHIP From: Katherine James (kjplays52 gmail.com) Subject: jocund I am preparing to play Juliet at the ripe age of 74 in an age-reversed production. I played her when I was a teenager, and I’ve played all the other women in Romeo and Juliet as the decades of my life have passed. I even played Capulet and Sister Lawrence in a gender-swapped production about 15 years ago. From the time I was a teenager, I have been intrigued by the use of jocund in Romeo’s line in the “morning-after” scene, aka Act III, Scene 5: Romeo. It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east. Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die. When I was a kid and first came to the role, I looked up jocund in the dictionary and marveled at Shakespeare’s choice of “cheerful, lively” day at that moment in time, rather than any number of trochaic words that would mean the opposite: an “ugly, horrid, frightening” day, since the day is a threat to them both. At any rate, I will hear it again in this production, and it will take on a new meaning, as my Romeo and I are both at the end, rather than the beginning, of our journeys in life. The cheerful, lively days will continue with or without us. And that is as it should be. Katherine James, Actor, Playwright, Director, and Author, Culver City, California From: Sara Hutchinson (sarahutchinson302 gmail.com) Subject: furbelow This word reminds me of the ending of Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benét’s poem about Pocahontas: They gave her silk and furbelows. She pined, as wild things do And, when she died at Gravesend She was only twenty-two. Poor wild bird -- No one can be blamed. But gentle Pocahontas Was a wild thing tamed. And everywhere the lesson runs, All through the ages: Wild things die In the very finest cages. More ... Sara Hutchinson, New Castle, Delaware From: Ellen Dillman (ellen.dillman gmail.com) Subject: Furbelow What a surprise to see this word this morning! It instantly brought to mind a song I learned from the album “Summer Solstice” by Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. Its only lyrics are: Adam catched Eve by the fur below, And that’s the oldest catch I know. (audio, 20 sec.) A very different meaning, I suspect. Ellen Dillman, Haslett, Michigan From: Steve Benko (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Subject: An etymology surprise One of my favorite word journeys is that of mall, as in shopping mall. It turns out to be a cousin of mallet, as in a type of hammer. How did that come about? In 17th-century London, an Italian game called pallamaglio, meaning ball-and-mallet, became popular. A forerunner of modern croquet, it was played in a long, straight alley. In English, the name became Pall Mall. Eventually the name shifted from the game to the promenade or street. The mall part then became generalized to any long, flat urban expanse set aside for pedestrians and lined with shops, or sometimes not, as in the National Mall in Washington, DC. Steve Benko, New York, New York From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com) Subject: pummel and paregoric Harkening back to my youth, I fondly recall my dad pummeling the punching bag in his basement workshop. His churning fists were a virtual blur as he pulverized that helpless leather blob. I later learned that speed bag is the precise term for this familiar boxing apparatus. In this scene, I’ve depicted a boxer pounding one. Hope it survives. Sparked by the usage example for our word paregoric, referencing a bedtime scene with Mark Twain and his young daughters, Susy and Clara, I couldn’t resist capturing the renowned raconteur exercising his talent for using words as a paregoric: spinning tales to engage, entertain, and ultimately lull his girls into a drowsy state, trusting that slumber would soon arrive. Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California Anagrams This week’s theme: Words with surprising etymological journeys Pummel Balladmonger Paregoric Jocund Furbelow = Clobber with hands, eh! Reject, rip poor lyricist (green, new) Assuaging murmur of Muse Wow! Jolly mood! Pleated gum silk -Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com) = A thrashing w/ ‘dukes’ Unremembered poet Tonic; Mum’s brew: alcohol + opium + juice Jolly, sporting Dressy frill or gewgaw = Strike, wham, whip Bard, minstrel Anodyne, opium, drug Be jolly, jocular, to giggle & whoop Mercer uses trim & sews flounce -Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com) -Julian Lofts, Auckland, New Zealand (jalofts xtra.co.nz) Make your own anagrams and animations. Limericks pummel The boxer will pummel his foes, Inflicting some powerful blows. Don’t ask me to view it; I simply can’t do it -- My eyes I instinctively close. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Said Donald, “Iran we will pummel! Once we bomb ‘em, what’s left of their scum’ll Be down on their knees!” But they answered, “Oh, please! Our uranium’s deep in a tunnel.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) balladmonger The poor balladmonger would say, “Oh, this line of work doesn’t pay!” While writing a verse, She’d constantly curse, “I can’t earn a living this way!” -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Taylor Swift? I don’t get the appeal; But I’m old, and perhaps a schlemiel. Such a poor balladmonger, And yet people throng her; Those tickets? Oy vey, such a deal! -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) paregoric A caveman in times prehistoric Discovered a great paregoric. The bark of a tree Could leave one pain-free -- This breakthrough had made him euphoric! -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Playing music does help me to sleep, A routine that I’m likely to keep, For it makes me euphoric, a true paregoric. It sure beats the counting of sheep. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) Said Hamlet, “This skull is poor Yorick! His jests were a great paregoric. His lips I oft kissed; How his jibes I have missed! Sweet as custard, and yet non-caloric.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) jocund I saw in the mall up ahead A jocund old fellow in red. To me he appeared A little bit weird, But “Let’s visit Santa,” Mom said. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Oh, yes, I’m a real jocund fella Except when I’ve left my umbrella And the skies open up! Oh, That happens, you know; Life is not at all times molto bella. -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) Though he’d jumped overboard and been soddened, The boater was glad, even jocund. For he’d been in distress At what lurks in Loch Ness, But had safely recovered his dachshund. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) furbelow Her costume was furbelow-filled: With ruffles and lace it was frilled. How odd was this dress! But nevertheless, When she made her grand entrance, she killed! -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) A.Word.A.Day’s truly a furbelow, For our Anu can set any verb aglow. And nouns can’t escape; HIs work leaves me agape. It’s quite dizzying! Makes me feel vertigo! -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Puns “I bet a small gift of wam-pummel get us the whole island of Manhattan,” schemed Peter Minuit. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Fred brought home some tangerines and a nice big pummle-o from the farmers market. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “You’ll never regret putting on commercials during the Super Bowl!” pitched the network’s foot-balladmonger. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “Look at that paregoric,” said senior partner John to colleague Richard about the firm’s bright young legal assistant. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “I vant to be vith a jocund a nerd at ze same time,” said the German fetishist on Grindr. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “Yep. Fur above, furbelow, and fur in between,” said the hirsute young man to his appalled date as they got busy for the first time. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: There is a beauty in discovery. There is mathematics in music, a kinship of science and poetry in the description of nature, and exquisite form in a molecule. Attempts to place different disciplines in different camps are revealed as artificial in the face of the unity of knowledge. All literate men are sustained by the philosopher, the historian, the political analyst, the economist, the scientist, the poet, the artisan, and the musician. -Glenn T. Seaborg, scientist, Nobel laureate (19 Apr 1912-1999)

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